Product Science Q&A on Experimentation

This was originally published on Nov 18, 2018.

I had the pleasure of doing a quick question and answer session with John Cutler from Amplitude. As background on their interest in talking with me, John shared the following:

In 2017, Holly was a guest on the This is Product Management podcast. Holly’s focused approach to experimentation and learning—what Holly refers to as “product science”—has gained a lot of popularity internally here at Amplitude. So…we were eager to ask her some follow-up questions! This interview is truly a master-class of product thinking, and we hope you enjoy it. Thanks Holly.

I loved talking with John about experimentation and shared how I help product managers and startup founders stay focused on just enough research.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

I think the best product managers are like scientists. They have ideas, theories, visions, but they question everything and are always open to changing their minds upon seeing new evidence. Back when I decided to start a training and consulting company, I thought to myself, what is my perspective on product management? And I realized that it was summed up well in the idea of product management as a science. We so often hear people talk about intuition and the icons with great “product sense”—but I don’t believe that’s really true. I think the product managers and designers who have a good intuition, who are able to tell what users will really do or what will drive a business forward, are applying principles that everyone can learn. Whether they are the principles of behavior science, experiment design, or team function, I believe what’s going on can be observed, understood, tested, and taught. And that’s what I want to do, to pull out those principles and help more people learn and apply them. And the best way I know to do that is to use the scientific method to test and learn.

Read the rest of the article here: Holly Hester-Reilly on Product Science and Experimentation‍